I'm at St. Georges University in Grenada for medical school. One of the first sessions we had involved learning about the history and culture of Grenada.
Here are some of the more interesting superstitions.
Loupgarou (Male) and Soucoyuant (Female) are vampires. They fly as a ball of fire at night in search of their victims. Their victims are asleep and dreaming, but they can't wake up while the vampire is there. The vampire sucks their blood with a long pipe, and in the morning when the victim wakes up they usually have a big black and blue mark. So people here would see your bruise and ask "Loupgarou suck yuh last night?" The vampires are said to put houses on fire after they are done there.
La Diablesse/ Jab jab. Pronouced la-jah-bless. This is the Devil's Wife. She is a very pretty lady who wears a long white dress and a white hat. The long dress conceals her feet, as she has one human foot and one cow hoof. She lures married/attached men up a steep hill and pushes them off it, claiming another soul for her husband, the Devil. It is said that this folk lore was created to stop men from going out at night without their counterparts, and thus increase fidelity.
Mama Maladie is a lady that makes people sick. So if she is passing through a village and making a lot of noise, everyone who looks outside to see what is going on will get sick.
Dealers are the devil's disciples. They make deals under the silk cotton tree.
It is said that these folklore were all designed to scare people, and so prevent them from going out at night. In fact, that is because people wanted to steal cocoa off the trees in the plantations at night. So if you're out and you come across a coffin in the middle of the road, you should get scared and run away. Then the cocoa thief will come and lug away his coffin full of cocoa pods!
So visitors beware... lol
